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My bees left

I got packaged bees in April. I have an 8 frame super. I had a very thriving hive all summer. I fed them sugar water starting in the beginning of august. I went on vacation for 4 days back in the middle of October. We had our first cold snap. When I got back I saw that the bees had deficated on the front of the hive. I opened the hive slightly (it was below 45 degrees) and i noticed right away there were fewer bees. I assumed they were clustering in the brood super. I then starting seeing robber bees going in the back entrance. I tipped the hive and realized it was probably about 50 lbs lighter. I decided to go in even with the cold temps. When I took the hive apart it was completely empty of bees. A few dead ones but no bees. Here are some photos I took. Maybe someone can help me figure out this mess. I did not treat the bees with anything. Thank you.

Re: My bees left

Originally Posted by sfisher

I thought it took Varroa longer than that to kill a package, could the package have already been that infested with Varroa?

Used to be. Colonies full of mites surviving for a couple years until the virus load became too high and the colony crashed. Now it can happen more quickly, with lower mite loads. It's the viruses, not the mites. And of course the package was infested with mites when installed...but what's in the neighborhood matters, too.